CIOs Reveal Second-Quarter Hiring Plans

Fourteen percent of U.S. chief information officers (CIOs) surveyed recently plan to expand their IT teams in the second quarter of 2013, according to the just-released Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Forecastand Local Trend Report . In addition, 61 percent of CIOs said they will not be adding positions but will fill IT positions that open in the next three months. Twenty-two percent will not be hiring, even to fill an open position, and 2 percent expect to reduce their IT staffing levels.

Q2 IT Hiring Forecast

CIOs adding more staff to IT departments	14%
CIOs planning to hire only for open IT roles	61%
CIOs planning to put IT hiring plans on hold	22%
CIOs planning to reduce their IT staff	2%

The IT Hiring Forecast and Local Trend Report survey was developed by Robert Half Technology, a provider of information technology professionals on a project and full-time basis, and conducted by an independent research firm. The survey is based on more than 2,300 telephone interviews with CIOs from a random sample of U.S. companies in 23 major metro areas with 100 or more employees. Robert Half Technology is a leading provider of IT professionals on a project and full-time basis and has been tracking IT hiring activity in the United States since 1995.

Recruiting Challenges Seventy percent of CIOs surveyed said it's somewhat or very challenging to find skilled IT professionals today.  Respondents cited networking (16 percent), data/database management (13 percent) and applications development (12 percent) as the most challenging functional areas in which to recruit.

Confidence in Business Growth and IT Investments
The survey results suggest that CIOs are optimistic about their companies' growth and IT investments. Eighty-nine percent of CIOs reported being somewhat or very confident in their companies' prospects for growth in the second quarter of 2013.

Seventy-two percent of CIOs also said they were somewhat or very confident that their firms would invest in IT projects in the second quarter of 2013.

Skills in Demand
Among the technology executives surveyed, 51 percent said both network administration and database management are the skill sets in greatest demand within their IT department. Desktop support followed, with 48 percent of the response.

More information about IT, service and support can be found at www.SupportIndustry.com